(ノﾟДﾟ)八(ﾟДﾟ )ノ ((Because we need some actual nice Zed and Syndra RPing ))
It was the first actual time that both of their Masters would have gotten together to speak about — what Syndra was told — confidential things. If it was not for how young and simply uncaring she was, the young Sovereign had not even a bit of curiosity towards what was being discussed.
The two of them — Syndra and her Master — had arrived to the large Ionian temple quite earlier on the day, greeted by what seemed to be a friendly man, who had invited them inside with such politeness. Syndra had meekly followed, trailing beside her Master and fiddling with the fabric of the much more elegant robe than she usually wore at the Fortress, perhaps set to make a good impression.
It wasn’t as if she was a slob or something, anyways. But her Master probably wanted to make her look like a responsible student to this man. For whatever reason.
But it was not long until that man had approached her, crouching down ( to her disdain, it obviously annoyed her even now when she was treated as if she was being spoken down to ) and mentioning something about how he had his own students here, two sons of his, that he wanted her to go and meet. It wasn’t a surprise that he wanted her out of the room, she understood that,
So she had went. Outside of the room and stepping rather quietly out into the hallway. It was a rather different layout than the Fortress, and Syndra was simply not put in any mood to go meet any other children. It was simply out of question for her, as she had heaved a hefty sight and whirled up her matter to place something akin to a seat to sit upon, climbing up and kicking her legs as she would wait. She could hear muffled voices coming from the room behind her, but did not bother to hear about any kinds of details they would be speaking about.
She only stayed in her makeshift seat, fingers moving about as they were conjuring some small ball of energy, stretching and toying with it in the meantime.
The young girl’s face light up in anticipation of Zed’s fathers reply, her eyes growing wide as he would answer, letting her stay to watch the spar. It caused her to jump, a spark of excitement running down her spine. How wonderful! She had never even witnessed one before, her home being far more. . private between such affairs to the point of not allowing any kind of silliness going around.
So the idea of seeing something new to her was very, very interesting.
" Thank you, Sir. " She would pipe after she had calmed down, turning to Zed’s father and giving him a little curtsy, as she was reminded to do after every greeting and thanks to any Elder or anyone in command of her — even if the later did bother her, a bit. Even at a young age she didn’t enjoy being pushed around.
" You only make sure that you’re safe now, yes? " Hummed her Master, a more elderly man that had given his student a sign of his confidence by placing a hand upon her shoulder, to which she turned back around to him and nodded.
" Yes, Master! "
" Since I am unable to stay, I will be expecting you two to travel back sometime soon, early in the morning tomorrow. You are not going to be excused for any of the training that you miss, so make sure not to dally about. " He was always a bit strict with her, though. As he didn’t want to her grow careless, of course, but Syndra ony replied in a small huff.
" Yes, Master. I understand, I will make sure that I am not returning to the Fortress late. Zedekiah and I will find our way back home in the morning. " She was already turned away from him, glancing back over to the boy beside her and unable to contain the grin that snuck past her at the mention of him calling her his friend.
Were they really friends? Of course Syndra had friends, some of the aids back at the Fortress she would consider friends, but none were even around their age. So the feeling of having somebody that was as young as her. . it was a refreshing feeling to the mage.
" Zedekiah, would you like to show me around your temple? " Syndra was ignoring the two Masters behind her now, much more focused on the events that were about to happen with the two children. She was staying the evening? She had not expected something like this, and it was very, very new to her.
Zed nodded enthusiastically to Syndra's Master, a rare happy gleam entered his green eyes, feeling his own father's gaze upon him, the trainee ninja bowed and spoke to the older man. The young spitfire's usual 'improper' energy contained and respectful.
"Uhm, thank you, sir, I'll make sure nothing happens to Syndra on our way back, you have my word" As much as he wanted to say 'on my honour', that would be meaningless, no ninja, even the Kinkou, as revered as they were, professed any adherence to an honour code.
So they had to make do by making sure what they said they would do, would happen. It was only thanks to this reliability that Ionia trusted the Kinkou at all.
Leaning down, Zed's father made a show of tussling his adopted son's hair, whilst doing so he whispered to his son and student.
"Zedekiah, you may take Young Syndra here to anywhere you are yourself allowed. You should know what she is not permitted to see"
Zed scoffed slightly, what did his father think him? an idiot? Of course he'd not show Syndra the important secrets they had. He may have been a 'mutt', but Zed was no fool. Bowing in respect, Zed left with Syndra after she had given her own goodbye.
"C'mon Syndra, I'll show you around the temple"
Thankfully the Kinkou had many rooms set aside to chronicle their history, from their beginnings as nothing more than simple farmers and peasants who taught themselves self-defense against their unfair rulers, to their height of power as the assassins of the old Ionian Sovereigns. Every ounce of their history was held in the temple grounds.
"I swear, some of these old relics seem older than Ionia itself somehow". Zed was enjoying his time with Syndra, the girl seemed interested in his clan's home, then again, she was a scholar so this sort of thing would at least spark some of her curiosity.
Thankfully Zed had studied enough that he was able to answer much of anything Syndra had asked.
When Zed and Syndra reached a clearly worn down tree Zed's eyes lit up at the sight. The tree was old, old enough that barely any leaves still gree on it. Instead of leaves, chains hung from the long branches and rusted iron shards littered the ground around it's roots.
"This tree's actually got quite a lot of importance to the Kinkou Syndra. The Fist of Shadow, the head assassin of the clan has some of the most physically demanding trials to pass to even be considered for the role".
Walking up to the tree, Zed grabbed own of the old rusted chains.
"Very first trial? You gotta cut a hanging chain, with just your hand, without even chi to help you"
Laughing Zed tapped at one of the lengths of iron near him, notably, it had nearly no rust. Taking a stance, Zed swung a chop horizontally, slicing clean through the metal as though it was paper.
"I managed to break the chain, which allowed me permission to train as as assassin".
Laughing, Zed grabbed some of the broken metal and absently tossed it into the air over and over. Shrugging, Zed continued.
"Sadly I can't seem to pass the 12th trial, which I'm not allowed to tell you about sadly, so I've not got any hope of becoming The Fist" He didn't sound too disappointed though, not many even reached the 12th trial. Making git that far alone proved him to be talented.
"We've still got loads of time before my spar Syndra, is there anything in particular you can think of that you want to see? There's not too much I'm forbidden from showing you so it shouldn't be too much trouble."
